#BellLetsTalk

We are all connected to someone who has suffered from mental illness. One way or another. Either we know someone who has suffered or we know someone who knows someone that has suffered. It is almost inevitable, but that doesn’t mean that there is nothing that we can do to stop it. Mental Illness is a complicated thing. We don’t know why it happens, or how it happens, but it does. It’s an issue that ends people’s lives, and the message of letting people know that there is always someone there to talk to is extremely important. I know this because I have been through it.

            Most people know me as the fun-loving girl who always has a smile on her face, but what some of you may not know is that for a period of my lifetime I was depressed. It was the hardest thing for me to overcome. I felt alone. I felt that I had no one to talk to. I felt that no one loved me. I was always exhausted.

But I put a smile on my face and told myself, and the rest of the world for that matter that I was ok. In reality I was not. The thing was that; I thought that no one wanted to hear about my stupid little teenage problems. What I didn’t realize was that it was much more than your typical ‘little teenage problems’. Finally one day I felt within myself that I needed to talk to someone about what I was feeling inside. I started off by writing down what I was feeling, and for a little while it helped, but soon after I knew it was time to tell my family and closet friends that I was not ok.

I know that if I didn’t have my family and my closest friends around me that I may have not been here today. Having them around was so crucial because it gave me the slightest bit of hope. It gave me the strength to wake up in the morning because I knew someone did in fact love me.  If I never let go of all of the demons I had inside of me, then life would be a whole lot different right now.

            This story is not for you to feel bad for me, but to put awareness out there.  I want my story to inspire people. To go out and release whatever they have inside of them. It is so vital that people know that there is always someone out there who will be willing to talk. People need to understand that they are not alone. Someone has felt the same way that you have, but there is no way things are going to get better until you let it all out. You will feel stronger. I assure you.

            #BellLetsTalk is one of the most inspiring campaigns that I have ever heard of. It puts awareness out into the world. It’s changing peoples lives little by little, and that is enough to make my whole world go round. Support #BellLetsTalk and remember that the happiest person you know may be suffering the most.

            We are all in this together. You are never alone #BellLetsTalk.

Championship Sunday - 2014

            Super Bowl XLVIII. A place where only two teams can go.  A place where dreams come true. A place where only one team will prevail. A place that took an astonishing amount of passion and hard work to get too. Met Life Stadium; New Jersey. Sunday February 2^nd 2014. The home of Super Bowl 48. The place where Peyton Manning and the Broncos will face off against Russell Wilson and the Seahawks. The best offence coming from AFC and the best defense coming from NFC. Essentially the best of the best.

            I’m going to be completely honest here. I’m pretty bitter after my 49ers lost to the Seahawks last night, but we’ll talk about that in a little bit.

            For now, lets talk about the show that Peyton Manning put on for us Sunday afternoon. The show being titled “The legacy of Peyton Manning; OHMAHA”. Manning’s 400 yard, 0 turnovers, 0 sacs performance, is what is taking the Denver Broncos to the Super Bowl for the first time in 15 years. This will be Manning’s 3^rd Super Bowl appearance in the last 8 years. What Manning has on the line going into the Super Bowl is “Legendary Status”. In my own personal opinion, I believe that Manning has nothing to prove. To me, he’s already shown the world that he is an elite quarterback with that “Legendary Status”. But of course, in the world of professional sports, winning the huge games is what it takes to be a legend. This AFC Championship game was a huge one for Manning. He had all the right answers in the game, and they all hid in that one word… “OHMAHA”

            As for Brady and the Patriots; Better luck next year?

            On to the 49ers vs. Seahawks game. The rivalry game that every football fan has been yearning to watch in the postseason. Boy, oh boy did football fans across North America get a treat while watching Sunday’s 6 o’clock game. Two of the best defenses in all of the NFL facing off in the loudest stadium/field in pro sports. Of course we were in for a treat. The first half of the game was San Fran. San Fran. San Fran. In the first half alone Colin Kaepernick rushed for 101 yards, which is 2^nd most in postseason history, next to Steve Young.  San Fran’s defensive line had 4 sacks by the end of the first half. The second half was when the tables had slightly turned. With a combination of bad breaks, and bad calls, the 49ers lost the game. At the end of the game it was losers with class vs. winners with no class. Richard Sherman’s post game interview with Erin Andrews showed the world the kind of person he really was; an asshole.

            Both games during championship Sunday were games that captivated us. Games that we will remember, whether it be because of post game interviews or because of the fact that the worlds two best current QB’s faced off. That’s something for you to decide.

            Something else for you to decide; Broncos? Seahawks? It’s your call football fans.

" Started from the bottom now we here " - Toronto FC

            TFC? A good team this year? The fans excited again? Major signings? A soccer team to be proud of in the city of Toronto? This cannot be!! Oh, my friends, but it is. If you haven’t heard, then you must be living under a rock… or maybe you’re just too caught up in the NFL playoffs. Either way, you can hear it from me first… Toronto FC is making a splash in MLS this year. As most of you may have probably guessed, Toronto FC was not one of the teams that Torontonians would brag about necessarily. And lets be honest here, at this exact moment in time, Toronto FC is the worst soccer team in all of MLS. But, ladies and gentlemen, the world of soccer in the city of Toronto is changing.

            Tim Leiweke, currently the president and CEO of MLSE (Maple Leafs Sports & Entertainment) made some moves that the history of MLS will never forget. Leiweke changed the face of Toronto FC, making signings that are currently the biggest signings in all of MLS. These signings mark a new era for the soccer fans in Toronto. In a matter of days, Toronto FC went from being the laughing stock of all Toronto sports, and all of the MLS, to biggest player transfer in Major League Soccer.

            “Started from the bottom now we here” – Drake, never made so much sense.

            With the resigning of Dwayne De Rosario and the signing of Brazilian striker Gilberto comes two more signings that literally makes Toronto FC fans go insane. These two signings include Tottenham striker Jermaine Defoe, and AS Roma midfielder Michael Bradley.

            With these additions to the Toronto FC squad means many more possibilities for the city of Toronto.  With the likes of younger players already on the squad including Jonathan Osorio means the team can actually compete in MLS. Defoe is a goal scorer, something that TFC is in dire need of. Defoe is the sort of credibility that TFC needs. He is the type of player that can make the players around him better as well.

            Sure, there are going to be those negative, cynical, pessimistic people who will claim that this hype about TFC is just like the hype of the Blue Jays last season. That TFC is going to pull the infamous “Blue Jays” and will fall in the standings, and essentially nothing will change. But as for right now, the fans should be excited about the future of the franchise. They should be excited about watching the team unfold, and mold into an elite squad. And when you really think about it, these moves are not only important for TFC itself, but as well as all of Major League Soccer. The hopes for this season from all of us TFC fans are that we can watch our team play with pride. We can hope that for the first time in our 7-year franchise history, we can watch our team make the playoffs.

            For the first time in a long time I’m proud to say that I’m a Toronto FC fan. Our time is almost here TFC fans…

NFL Divisional Weekend - 2014

            NFL Divisional Playoff Weekend. Arguably the most exciting weekend in the NFL season.  Doesn’t matter if your team is out, or you are out of you football pool, everyone is watching. All eyes are on the NFL’s best. Each team is on the quests to get to that place that every quarterback dreams of taking their team. The place that every coach fantasizes about. It’s a place where players are able to make a name for themselves. One of the biggest stages in all of professional sports. The Super Bowl.

            There’s no doubt at all that the matchups for the games in the divisional round of the 2013-2014 playoffs were something to talk about. Each team going in to the divisional round had the burning desire to get to the AFC and NFC championships. Now of course only 4 of the 8 teams could come out as winners. The first game of the weekend; The Seattle Seahawks (whom were favored by 10) vs. The New Orleans Saints. Seattle essentially dominated the first half, but an onside kick in the second half gave the Saints that little bit of momentum that they needed. Unfortunately for the Saints, the Seahawks won 23-15.

            The next game up; The Indianapolis Colts vs. The New England Patriots. The “big time matchup”. Andrew Luck started his game off with an interception, and as the game went on, Luck did not seem to come up as “lucky” compared to his wildcard game against the Kansas City Chiefs last week. The final score came out to be a 43-22 beat down by the Patriots. A big name to mention from this AFC matchup; LeGarrette Blount. 166 rushing yards, and 4 touchdowns. Enough said.

            On to the first game of Sunday; The San Francisco 49ers vs. The Carolina Panthers. To be totally honest, I’m one of the biggest Canadian San Francisco 49ers fan you will ever meet… so excuse the fact that I may be a little biased here. The biggest thing to come out of this game (other than the fact that the Niners won) was the controversy, which took place when Kaepernick rushed into the end zone and scored a touchdown. The controversy was not the touchdown itself. It was what came after the touchdown. We all know that when you score a touchdown, your going to want a little celebration... your own trademark perhaps. Kaep went above and beyond his own trademark. Anyone who is a NFL fan knows that Cam Newton is also known as “Superman”. He tends to unzip his imaginary shirt and pull out his imaginary superman emblem and show it to the crowd. On Sunday, Kaep unzipped his imaginary shirt, and showed the crowd his superman, followed by his own signature trademark “Kaepernicking”. Kaepernicking is when he kisses his bicep to the fans.  Obviously Kaepernick came out to be the winner of this game. The final being 23-10.

            Finally, the last game of divisional weekend; The Denver Broncos vs. The San Diego Chargers. Many people believed that the game was a complete write-off for the Chargers, but in the second half of the game, they came out to play: to show Peyton Manning and The Broncos what they were capable off. In the end, Manning displayed to the crowd at Sports Authority Field that he could not be stopped and went on to win the game, 24-17.

            A second after the Broncos game was finished yesterday night; everyone’s focus changed from the divisional round, to the AFC and NFC Championship games.

            AFC; The Denver Broncos vs. The New England Patriots. The ultimate quarterback showdown, Brady vs. Manning. The discussion has been going on forever. Who is the better QB? Who can win the big games? Which is the better playmaker/leader? Those questions will be answered Sunday at 3 o’clock. 

            NFC; The San Francisco 49ers vs. The Seattle Seahawks. Bitter division rivals. Pete Carroll vs. Jim Harbaugh. Division rivals from their college coaching days as well. Carroll was the coach of USC, Harbaugh the coach of Stanford. They played each other every year and Carroll always seemed to come up on top (mainly because he always had the better team). But Sunday at 6:30 will be Jim Harbaugh’s ultimate opportunity to beat out his old time opponent.

            No matter what the outcomes of the games next weekend, both promise to be amazing ones. The amount of history, and passion to win those games to get to the Super Bowl, ensures us that they will be games for us football fanatics to remember forever. 

Team Canada's Olympic Roster - 2014

            Whenever the Winter Olympics are around the corner, the common Canadian hockey fan thing to do is to discuss amongst our friends and family who will make the roster, and who will not. And when the time arrives that the roster is finally out, we all get a little bit frantic. What do you expect us to do? About 60% of The National Hockey Leagues players are Canadian Born. We can’t help but get excited knowing that our favorite players could be selected to play for our country.

            As soon as the roster is announced we all tend to focus a little bit more on the omissions rather than the players who actually made the team. We’re only human; it’s in our DNA to focus on the rejected players first. Once that dies down, we then focus on the actual team.

            Yesterday, January 7^th 2014, Team Canada’s Olympic roster was announced, and since I’m only human let’s discuss who was left off of the roster first. The biggest omissions, for me personally, include Martin St. Louis, Claude Giroux, Brent Seabrook, Logan Couture, Joe Thornton and Dan Boyle. The biggest name that comes to everyone’s mind is most commonly Martin St. Louis, and rightfully so. Since the 2010 Winter Olympics (when St. Louis was kept off the team then as well) he has registered the most points in the NHL (294). With Steven Stamkos being out for the Tampa Bay Lightning with a broken leg, St. Louis is still making it possible for Tampa to be 2^nd in the Atlantic Division, as well as 4^th in the eastern conference. After being told that he was not chosen to play for Team Canada yesterday by his own general manager (Steve Yzerman), St. Louis showed up to his game against the Jets and scored two goals, including the game-winning goal. I don’t know about you, but that is the kind of guy I would want to play for my team; a professional hockey player who handled perfectly one of the biggest punches in the gut of all.

The question pondering all of our minds is Steven Stamkos. Will he be able to play? It’s something that us as Canadians have the obligation to pray for every single night until the Olympics kick off. If by any means Stamkos is unable to play, there is no doubt in my mind that St. Louis will be brought to Sochi with the team.

            Overall, Team Canada was selected very well. So much talent on one team. So much talent in this beautiful country that we call home. If you aren’t completely sure whom the team is made up of, here is the complete roster:  

Goalies: Roberto Luongo               Defense: Marc Edouard Vlasic       Shea Weber

                Carey Price                                       Alex Pietrangelo              P.K Subban

                Mike Smith                                       Dan Hamhuis                  Duncan Keith

                                                                          Jay Bouwmeester           Drew Doughty

                        Forwards: Chris Kunitz      Sidney Crosby           Matt Duchene

                                            Patrick Marleau  Jonathan Toews       Rick Nash

                                            Patrick Sharp       Ryan Getzlaf           Corey Perry

                                            Jamie Benn        Patrice Bergeron       Jeff Carter

                                                                        John Tavares             Steven Stamkos

           

            Picks that I believe to be great choices for Team Canada include, John Tavares and Alex Pietrangelo. As the captain Tavares basically carries the entire Islanders team on his back. He is one of the best centers currently playing in the league and he is capable of so many astonishing things. He currently stands tied with Patrick Kane for second place in the league with 54 points. A perfect fit for Team Canada. Alex Pietrangelo is one of the best defensemen in the NHL. Standing 6’3 tall, he is a guy that you want to have on your back end. He knows how to play the puck and is a great play maker. Without a doubt my favorite NHL defensemen.  

            Goal tending is going to play a huge factor when it comes to who is going to win the gold medal. Team Canada has great goalies to put in the net. Personally I think that Luongo is going to get the nod first, simply because of the way he played in the 2010 Olympics… simply outstanding. Yet, Mike Babcock is not going to neglect Carey Price. It will go, Luongo, Price, Luongo so on and so on depending on how well each play. But don’t forget Mike Smith. Yes, Smith will be third string, but do not count him out. If by some horrible event either Luongo or Price aren’t performing well, or get injured Smith will stand strong.

            There is no surprise when it comes to one person on the roster. That person being our ‘not so secret weapon’. None other than Sid the Kid. The hope for Canadians is that we can re-create what happened on that beautiful day in Vancouver. The day that Crosby scored The Golden Goal. The day that Canadian sports fans will remember for the rest of their lives. All we can hope for is that the 2014 Winter Olympics shows the world that hockey stays in Canada. Where it’s meant to be.